


The Unlikely "We"

by suddenlycomics



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-26 15:46:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2657588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suddenlycomics/pseuds/suddenlycomics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the recent events of Inhuman #8, Wanda Maximoff finds the last person she ever expected to see at her doorstep. Definitely canon divergent and fits in with my other fic, Kindred Spirits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Unlikely "We"

“No I understand, Pietro,” Wanda said, laying back against the couch. “Tell Lorna I said hi.” Once he hung up, Wanda put her phone on the coffee table and stared up at the ceiling. After what happened with Alex Summer’s Avengers team, Wanda had to step away. She was tired of being used and she wasn’t going to compromise herself any further in exchange for people accepting her.

Not that it worked, she was pretty sure she was even more hated now.

Wanda sighed closing her eyes as she tried to will herself to sleep so she didn’t have to deal with her current line of thought. Again.

That’s when there was loud yowling outside her door. Wanda jumped off the couch, casting a silencing spell on her apartment as she ran to door to help whatever injured animal could possibly be making that noise. Opening her door, she could only stare in disbelief as she saw the huddled, quivering mass in front of her door.

“Maximus?!” Wanda said, kneeling down to get a better look at him as she said it. He looked like a drowned rat, his face was cover in grime and blood and twisted in a pained grimace. Against her better judgment, Wanda cautiously placed a hand on his shoulder, surprised when he didn’t flinch away or start yelling at her. She noticed he had his arms crossed and pressed tightly against his stomach. With her other hand, she moved away the tattered sleeves, eliciting a snarl from Maximus.

His hands were completely gone above the wrist. The wound was cauterized but it wasn’t a burn exactly. She had seen this type of injury before when- 

Wanda flinched back and Maximus started laughing frantically.

“My brother! Can you imagine?!” Maximus said. “Pulled my hands away and whispered “Remember” then tossed me aside! No guilt, no reservation! IT’S WRONG! You know him! What’s he’s like! For some reason he trusted you, some mutant wench, to let you know him so tell me if you think he’d do this?!” His voice was higher and faster now, making Wanda grateful that she had cast the spell earlier because she was too shocked to put together any spells now. Maximus laughed again. “Now I’m trusting you! You of all people! I’ve lost everything now!” 

“Come inside, Maximus,” Wanda managed to say and Maximus didn’t need any further prompting as he pushed past her and headed straight for the couch. She silently went to the kitchen, grabbing a plastic tub from beneath the sink and filling it with cool water as she tried to organize her thoughts. On one hand, Maximus was…well Maximus. He was temperamental, arrogant, and prone to bouts of trying to take over Attilan but Black Bolt had always forgiven him. Sure, Black Bolt would always reclaim his throne and lock up Maximus when needed but never attempted to kill him or torture him despite all the people who said he should.

Taking away Maximus’s hands was beyond cruel and Wanda would never had believed Black Bolt would do something like that until she saw it. 

Wanda was pulled from her thoughts when the tub started to overflow with water. After dumping some out, Wanda walked over to the coffee table and placed the tub down. Maximus sneered, backing into the far corner of the couch. 

“Hoping to finish what my brother started and drown me!” Maximus shouted and Wanda sighed in exasperation. 

“It’s for your arms,” Wanda explained. “Your injuries are similar to burns so it should help while I prepare the bandages. I know some spells that will help with pain and promote healing. Just a few probabilities here and there.”

“Ah yes your illusions,” Maximus said, grimacing as he put his arms in the water. “Clearly, I’m in expert medical care. What’s next? Going to sacrifice small animals and chant?” 

“You could go to the Avengers and see how charitable they are,” Wanda suggested and Maximus muttered under his breath. Things were quiet for a while as Wanda worked on rolls of bandages aside from the occasional bursts of grumbling from Maximus. Only when the red glow from Wanda’s powers faded from the bandages did she turn her attention back to him. 

Maximus really was in bad shape, damp, and completely filthy. He was likely to get infected if she bandaged his arms like this. Wanda held out her hand, Maximus glowed red for an instant before it faded but that was all the time it took for him to scramble to the nearest corner and start yowling.

“How DARE you use your filthy illusions on me!” Maximus shouted and Wanda couldn’t resist rolling her eyes even as she bit her tongue. He knew full well the power she had but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of rising to such obvious bait. “What did you do?! What did you-”

“I had to clean you up,” Wanda said calmly. “Right now you hardly seem to be in the condition to stand in the shower.” 

“I had to go through your city’s river to get here!” Maximus insisted. “I have been in enough water today!” 

“They’re not clean and you know it.” Wanda said, trying to keep her voice steady. “If we didn’t do that your injuries could have easily gotten infected and you could lose more of your arms.” 

Maximus frowned before shaking his head, his curls bouncing about instead of it being the greasy matted mess it had been. He stopped, seemingly satisfied that she was telling the truth before glaring at her.

“I won’t do any more magic on you without telling you want I’m planning, okay?” Wanda said. Maximus sniffed and slowly returned to the couch. Maximus allowed her to take off his jacket and shirt before holding out his arms to her. Wanda carefully set to work bandaging them, not saying anything when she heard him sigh softly in relief as the first layer of bandages were on his arms. For “illusions” the spells to ward off pain seemed to be working wonders.

“I believe you,” Wanda said, voice quiet as she continued to work. “Something is wrong with Black Bolt for him to do this. We need to find out what’s going on.”

“We?” Maximus said, grinning. “Now that _is_ something! Us working together! I can just imagine everyone’s faces! My brother would-” His grin falls and he looks away as Wanda finishes. 

“We’ll figure out that’s going on,” Wanda assures him, summoning a blanket from the closet into her hands. She holds it up and he makes a jerky motion with his head to acknowledge her before she drapes it over his shoulders. 

Wanda gets off the couch and goes to the kitchen to get him some water with a straw and makes a mental note to restock her fridge tomorrow morning. By the time she gets back, Maximus is already snoring into the couch, splayed out to take up as much room as possible. Wanda placed the cup on the coffee table before heading to bed.

It occurred to her that taking in a super villain would probably not help her reputation in the slightest.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Alan who was unhappy with how Inhuman #8 portrayed Black Bolt, the personification of guilt most of the time. Regardless of what his brother has done, Bolt would never do something so malicious to him. It cheered us both up to imagine that Maximus would hole away in Wanda's apartment while they try to figure out what is up with Black Bolt.


End file.
